The Journal - Schoolshttp://www.journalmpls.com/schools
enSchools Notebook: Suspensions down, but disparities remainhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-suspensions-down-but-disparities-remain
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Also: A way to weigh-in on the superintendent search; and a Jefferson math teacher is honored</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Minneapolis Public Schools suspended students less often last year, but wide race-based disparities remain in the use of punishments that remove students from the classroom.</p>
<p>About 70 percent of the 3,090 suspensions doled out in 2014–2015 went to black students. It’s closer to 80 percent when students whose families recently emigrated from Africa are included in the count.</p>
<p>Even so, fewer students were suspended in almost every demographic group. Total suspensions dropped by more than one-third when compared to the 2013–2014 school year.</p>
<p>Those findings were gleaned from an interactive database published in July on the district’s website (<a href="http://www.mpls.k12.mn.us/data_behavior" target="_blank">mpls.k12.mn.us/data_behavior</a>). The database is just one facet of the district’s voluntary response to a <a href="http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-report-on-discipline-investigation-released" target="_blank">federal investigation</a> of its discipline practices.</p>
<p>After examining two years of discipline data, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights found black students were not only disciplined more often, in some cases they received harsher punishments than white students for similar types of misbehavior.</p>
<p>A new behavior standards policy — in development even as the OCR investigation was ongoing — was implemented at the start of the 2014–2015 school year, but former Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson’s <a href="http://www.southwestjournal.com/news/schools/superintendent-aims-to-eliminate-suspension-disparities" target="_blank">response</a> to the investigation went even further. Johnson placed a moratorium on the suspension of pre-K­–grade 1 students for non-violent behavior last fall; then, joined by a team of high-level staffers, she launched a regular review of all suspensions of students of color.</p>
<p>Johnson resigned in December, but those practices continued under Michael Goar, the district’s interim superintendent.</p>
<p>By the end of the year, 9 percent of black students (not counting recent arrivals) were suspended at least once, down from 14 percent in 2013–2014. Just 1 percent of white students were suspended last school year, down from 2 percent in 2013–2014.</p>
<p>“The disparity still exists, which means we have more work to do,” Robin Francis, a principal assigned to work on behavior issues, said. Francis was a member of the team that reviewed suspensions.</p>
<p>“This was a year of learning as we gathered data,” she said. “We were in constant evaluation mode … with the new behavior standards policy.”</p>
<p>Francis said teachers have asked for a “bigger toolbox” to manage student behavior, and they plan to introduce some of those tools next year. The district is also continuing to develop new student engagement and restorative justice practices, and is seeking partnerships to add mental health services to schools, she added.</p>
<p>Data scientist Luke Stanke of the district’s Research, Evaluation and Assessment Department said even small percentage-point reductions in suspensions have a large impact on student learning.</p>
<p>“It means the number of missed days is decreasing by a lot,” Stanke said.</p>
<p>According to district calculations, the decrease in suspensions translated to about 4,000 more days in school last year compared to 2013–2014.</p>
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<p><strong>Weigh in on superintendent search</strong></p>
<p>The Minneapolis Board of Education released a detailed timeline for its superintendent search in June, including opportunities for the public to shape the profile of the district’s next leader.</p>
<p>An online survey is scheduled to go live Aug. 31 and remain open through Sept. 17. The survey is intended to give community members, students, parents and staff a chance to weigh in on a leadership profile.</p>
<p>That profile will help to guide the board’s search for a superintendent. A School Board presentation on the profile is scheduled for Sept. 29.</p>
<p>Candidate interviews are planned for November. Finalists come back for a second round of interviews in early December. The School Board aims to announce a superintendent Dec. 8 or shortly thereafter.</p>
<p>The district hired Rosemont, Ill., based executive search firm Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to lead the search process, including community outreach efforts and identification of candidates.</p>
<p>Interim Superintendent Michael Goar has said he intends to be in the mix of candidates.</p>
<p>For an update on the superintendent search, go to <a href="http://board.mpls.k12.mn.us/supt-search" target="_blank">board.mpls.k12.mn.us/supt-search</a>.</p>
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<p><strong>Jefferson teacher honored</strong></p>
<p>Jefferson Community School teacher Leif Carlson was one of 108 educators nationwide honored in July with a Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching.</p>
<p>Carlson received $10,000, a certificate signed by President Barack Obama and a paid trip for two to Washington, D.C. for an awards ceremony later this summer. A middle grades math instructor, Carlson has taught at Jefferson since the fall of 2000, according to the school’s website.</p>
<p>Presented annually since 1983, the awards have honored more than 4,300 teachers in the past 22 years. The awards are presented to K–6 and 7–12 teachers in alternating years.</p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 10 Jul 2015 19:33:09 +0000Dylan Thomas25138 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-suspensions-down-but-disparities-remain#commentsSchools Notebook: District pledges support for Phillips Poolhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-district-pledges-support-for-phillips-pool
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Donation seen as the start to a broader collaboration between schools and parks</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>As it took a step toward contributing financially to the Phillips Pool project in June, the School Board also laid the groundwork for a broader collaboration with the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board.</p>
<p>A resolution approved by the board June 18 declared the district’s intention to contribute $1.75 million in capital funding to the pool’s planned renovation and another $150,000 annually through 2020 for maintenance. The plan is to include the agreement in a memorandum of understanding with Park Board by July 15.</p>
<p>The resolution called for the MOU to go far beyond just the Phillips Pool, however, committing the district and Park Board to a wider partnership on facilities and programming. That partnership would give Minneapolis Public Schools athletics teams priority scheduling at some parks-owned facilities.</p>
<p>Invited to address the School Board, Park Board President Liz Wielinski said the goal of the collaboration was to create “a seamless process for kids in Minneapolis to participate in youth sports and especially to learn how to swim.”</p>
<p>Expanding access to swimming lessons, especially for children of color, was motivating factor behind the pool project.</p>
<p>Nationally, the fatal drowning rate is almost three times higher for black children than white children, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports, and the disparity is greater in Minnesota. African-Americans make up the largest single demographic group in the neighborhood immediately surrounding the pool, according to U.S. Census data compiled by Minnesota Compass.</p>
<p>The agreement the district and Park Board are working toward calls for a six-lane pool with a smaller four-lane training pool. Some in the community have long advocated for an eight-lane pool, and that difference of opinion played out in a debate that lasted longer than an hour at the School Board meeting.</p>
<p>An amendment offered by Board Member Rebecca Gagnon and seconded by Board Member Tracine Asberry would’ve put eight lanes into the language of the resolution. Gagnon argued an eight-lane pool was more “sustainable” because of the revenue it would generate hosting large swim meets.</p>
<p>Weilinski said the Park Board already had committed to six lanes in April when it approved a $5.4-million renovation plan. The gap in funding the Park Board predicts even with a smaller pool would only grow larger if it’s built with eight lanes, she said.</p>
<p>“No matter what pool we build, we will be operating at a deficit,” she said.</p>
<p>Weilinski said the cost of maintaining an eight-lane pool would force the Park Board to delay other projects and potentially close facilities. The need to raise revenue would mean renting out the pool more often for swim meets, limiting access to the pool for the community, she added.</p>
<p>Gagnon was not persuaded, and suggested “other partners” in the community would “jump” at the chance to participate in the eight-lane pool project. She noted the Park Board was already committed to going ahead, with or without district support.</p>
<p>“I would rather see us leverage our capital dollars for increased benefit rather than supplant what the Park Board was going to do,” Gagnon said.</p>
<p>Gagnon’s amendment failed to pass. A second amendment, to table the resolution a month or more for the Park Board to consider the eight-lane plan, failed to win a second.</p>
<p>Board Member Nelson Inz implored his colleagues “to take on faith what our partners come to the table with,” and trust Wielinski when she said the Park Board couldn’t afford an eight-lane pool. Board Member Carla Bates said the board shouldn’t ignore, either, the “historic” nature of the broader partnership proposed in the resolution.</p>
<p>Terms to be negotiated in the MOU are expected to include priority scheduling for district athletics teams at several parks facilities, including Parade Ice Garden, Northeast Ice Arena and Parade Fields. A softball field at Todd Park would be rehabilitated for use by the Washburn High School softball team, and the Park Board would commit to completing work on Bossen Field Park in South Minneapolis by 2018.</p>
<p>Other items on the table are swimming lessons and lifeguards for district students, and pledges to collaborate on capital planning, programming and scheduling. The resolution passed with Gagnon casting the only “no” vote.</p>
<p>The same night the School Board pledged district financial support to the Phillips Pool, it also took action to cover a nearly $21.7-million shortfall in its 2014–2015 budget. A cost-savings plan made up just more than $9 million of the shortfall, and the School Board approved the use of nearly $12.6 in reserves to cover the rest.</p>
<p>The School Board also approved an $823.4-million expenditure budget for 2015–2016.</p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 26 Jun 2015 19:01:35 +0000Dylan Thomas25075 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-district-pledges-support-for-phillips-pool#commentsChanges to autism program prompt parent concernshttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/changes-to-autism-program-prompt-parent-concerns
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<span class="field-slideshow-caption-text">Dressed in blue in a show of unity, parents protested changes to the district's autism program at School Board meeting.</span>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">A shift planned for fall raises questions about what’s best for students</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>LYNNHURST — Parents of students with autism are urging Minneapolis Public Schools to reconsider changes to the district’s autism program slated for next fall.</p>
<p>The district’s plan affects just three schools where some, but not all, special autism classrooms will close, as well as a small group of incoming kindergarteners diagnosed with autism. Some of those kindergarteners — just fewer than half of the group of 49 — will attend schools that aren’t a part of the district’s citywide autism spectrum disorder, or ASD, program.</p>
<p>The changes mean the district is closing three classrooms at citywide ASD program host sites — one each at Jenny Lind, Folwell and Burroughs, where parents began raising questions about the changes when they became widely known in May. About a dozen parents from across the district, many wearing blue in a show of unity, spoke against the changes at the June 9 School Board meeting.</p>
<p>Among them was Nicole Fortuin, whose son, Remy, attends Bancroft Elementary, one of 11 district elementary schools that have citywide ASD program classrooms. Fortuin, who like others said she was caught off-guard by the plan, urged the School Board to call a special meeting to discuss the program changes.</p>
<p>“Autistic kindergarteners are not the kind of population you want to experiment broadly with,” she said.</p>
<p>District officials said they first discussed the plan with the Special Education Advisory Council, a group that includes parents, several years ago. Students who need the most intense forms of support will still have access to the citywide ASD program, but they’re making changes to allow more students with autism to attend their neighborhood schools, regardless of whether or not that school is a citywide ASD site.</p>
<p>“We really now are able to say to parents we can provide you with some high-quality services at your neighborhood school,” Chief Academic Officer Susanne Griffin said. </p>
<p><strong>A program that works</strong></p>
<p>Still, some parents are wondering why the district would change a program they credit for their students’ achievements.</p>
<p>“What this program does is it works, and it’s allowing our kids to learn and … to function better, academically and socially,” said Anne Ursu, whose son, Dash, just completed second grade at Burroughs.</p>
<p>Ursu and other parents said they disliked that the district described the changes as affecting only students with “mild” forms of autism. Dash spends the majority of his time in a general education classroom, not a special education classroom, but Ursu said his success depended on access to an autism classroom and specially trained staff.</p>
<p>“Unfortunately, you’re putting the autistic kids in a situation where they’re going to be disruptive in the classrooms because they’re not getting all that support,” she said.</p>
<p>Rochelle Cox, executive director of special education, said in 2014–2015 there were about 550 students in the citywide ASD program and nearly 200 attending neighborhood schools but getting some support from the district. There will be staffing adjustments next fall, in part to support the more than 20 incoming kindergarteners whose families opted for a neighborhood school without the citywide ASD program, Cox said.</p>
<p>The staffing changes mean special education resource teachers, or SERTs, will have slightly smaller caseloads next year, working with roughly 20 students instead of 23. SERTs don’t necessarily have expertise in autism, but so-called “itinerant” teachers with that specialty will float between schools, working with both students and staff, Cox said.</p>
<p>Some parents, though, are left with doubts. With resources spread out among more schools, the district “might be scrambling just to provide the minimal support,” Fortuin said.</p>
<p>Some also suggested the changes were motivated by cost-cutting, but Griffin said delivering services to more widely dispersed students “could be more expensive, to some degree.”</p>
<p><strong>Choosing the mainstream</strong></p>
<p>School Board Member Carla Bates is the parent of a daughter with autism who attended Minneapolis Public Schools, and while sympathetic to parents’ concerns, she said she is “100-percent behind this change.”</p>
<p>Bates said as the district developed a strong citywide ASD program, it became too willing to channel students into schools outside their neighborhoods. She described the Burroughs program as wonderful, but said it was “being treated as a magnet school for kids on the spectrum.”</p>
<p>“Our general education needs to be better so we don’t have such a (high) referral (rate) to special education,” she said.</p>
<p>Liz Hannan, a parent who recently completed a two-year term as co-chair of Special Education Advisory Council, was one of a few parents who spoke in favor of the district’s plan at the June 9 School Board meeting.</p>
<p>“I am totally in support of students being able to go, if their needs are addressed and met, to their neighborhood school,” Hannan said.</p>
<p>It’s a choice she made with her son, Michael Grace, who has Down syndrome. After attending Lake Harriet Community School, one of the district’s developmental cognitive disability (DCD) program sites, he’ll transition with most of his classmates to Southwest High School next year instead of following the DCD pathway to Washburn — “and I have been anxious about it for several years,” she added.</p>
<p>But, she continued, with the right supports in place Grace will be able to continue learning alongside friends and acquaintances.</p>
<p>“Our goal has always been for him to be included in the mainstream as much as possible,” Hannan said. “He’s had a great success (at Lake Harriet). He’s just a part of the fabric of the school.”</p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 12 Jun 2015 21:40:14 +0000Dylan Thomas25012 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/changes-to-autism-program-prompt-parent-concerns#commentsSchool Board adds second monthly meetinghttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/school-board-adds-second-monthly-meeting
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Plus, Ramsey teacher honored as an Outstanding Educator</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Are School Board members getting tired of all the late nights?</p>
<p>Relatively early in their May 12 meeting, which would eventually run more than four hours, board members approved a 2015–2016 meeting calendar that includes committee of the whole meetings on the fourth Tuesday of each month. That’s in addition to a regular board meeting every second Tuesday.</p>
<p>For the past two years, the School Board’s calendar has included just that one regular meeting per month, plus quarterly retreats. Other meetings are scheduled on an as-needed basis.</p>
<p>It’s not clear if fewer meetings mean longer meetings, but there have been instances in the past year of School Board meetings stretching beyond three or even four hours. That means adjourning sometime after 10 p.m. on a school night.</p>
<p>Recalling the previous month’s meeting, Board Member Tracine Asberry said there was almost no one left in the audience when they concluded their business.</p>
<p>“I don’t remember what time it was, but it was pretty late,” Asberry said.</p>
<p>She said the board should strive to be both “effective and efficient” when it schedules board meetings and sets agendas.</p>
<p>Records on the district website indicate the board officially met 19 times in 2014 and 21 times in 2013. In 2012, the board met 33 times. Those counts include some days when the board gaveled out a brief regular meeting and immediately launched into a longer discussion meeting on the same evening, but they still all gathered in their boardroom on more days in 2012 than in either of the following two years.</p>
<p>The board has averaged two meetings per month through the first five months of 2015.</p>
<p>School Board Chair Jenny Arneson said adding meetings to the calendar might not get them home any earlier. The board’s assistant went over the records and found “sometimes when you have a two meetings a month they are also long,” Arneson said.</p>
<p>“What we have found is that we tend to have cycles during the year in which we have a lot of heavy topics and then we have cycles in the year when we don’t,” she said. “We have found that even when we have two meetings a month, during those big topics we had equally late meetings.”</p>
<p>The board will only discuss and not vote on agenda items during committee of the whole meetings, although it can reclassify any of those dates as a special meeting to conduct official business.</p>
<p>Arneson noted that the board sets the agenda for meetings and can control that one very significant factor in meeting length.</p>
<p>“There are some things we can’t control, like public comments,” she continued. “I know we all welcome the public comments, but the last couple of months they have taken in excess of an hour.”</p>
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<p><strong>Ramsey teacher an Outstanding Educator honoree</strong></p>
<p>Ramsey Middle School teacher Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl was named a regional honoree in the WEM Foundation 2015 Outstanding Educator Awards.</p>
<p>Cedarleaf Dahl teaches art and serves on Ramsey’s Family Engagement Council. She was honored in the “Teacher Achievement” category recognizing educators who push students to higher levels of achievement, demonstrate a command of their subject area, incorporate technology into their lessons and invite parent and community participation in their work.</p>
<p>In announcing the award, the foundation specifically noted Cedarleaf Dahl’s use of online and multimedia technology in her art classes and her participation in the school’s antiracism leadership group.</p>
<p>The Outstanding Educator Awards program is administered for the WEM Foundation by Synergy &amp; Leadership Exchange, a North Mankato-based nonprofit. The program was created in 1998.</p>
<p>Honorees are selected from a pool of teachers nominated by students and colleagues who are then evaluated by a panel of business and education leaders.</p>
<p>Regional honorees like Cedarleaf Dahl get a $1,500 gift and are invited to participate in the statewide awards competition the following year. State winners receive a $15,000 gift.</p>
</div></div></div>Tue, 19 May 2015 14:52:43 +0000Dylan Thomas24855 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/school-board-adds-second-monthly-meeting#commentsThe Minnesota Supreme Court heads back to schoolhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/the-minnesota-supreme-court-heads-back-to-school
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<span class="field-slideshow-caption-text">Minnesota Supreme Court justices took questions from Edison students during their visit to the school.</span>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The justices’ biannual outreach tour takes them to Edison High School</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Less than ten minutes into oral arguments before the Minnesota Supreme Court on a St. Paul gang member’s appeal of a 2014 murder conviction, Associate Justice Alan Page pressed the appellant’s attorney to clarify her argument.</p>
<p>“I have to say I’m a little lost (on) the distinction between ‘markedly similar’ and ‘substantially similar,’” Page said, directing his comment to Jennifer Workman Jessness, an assistant state public defender. “What’s the difference?”</p>
<p>If a substantial portion of the audience felt just as lost amid the flurry of legal jargon, you could hardly blame them. Most were high school students, and many of them were likely witnessing live court proceedings for the first time.</p>
<p>Edison High School hosted the state’s highest court May 11 for one of two “traveling oral arguments” held each year in Minnesota schools. It was like a reverse fieldtrip for the students: Instead of piling into a school bus for a visit to the Minnesota Judicial Center in St. Paul, the court came to them.</p>
<p>Even if that early exchange between Page and Jessness left the impression that the audience was in for an hour of arguments drier than law library dust, enough true-crime details leaked out during the session to keep the audience engaged: talk of revenge, a murder weapon tossed in the Mississippi River and a suspect’s location determined with cell phone tower evidence, just like something out of the hit podcast “Serial.”</p>
<p>It was the justices’ first visit to a Minneapolis Public Schools site since <em>Urban vs. The American Legion</em> was argued at South High School in 2006. Juniors and seniors from both South and North high schools joined Edison students in the school’s recently renovated auditorium, and the district broadcast the proceedings to other students both online and on public access television.</p>
<p>Before the seven justices took the stage, the students and district officials in the audience got a briefing on the finer points of <em>State of Minnesota vs. True Thao</em> from Hennepin County Chief Judge Peter Cahill.</p>
<p>The case involved an October 2013 drive-by shooting outside a St. Paul bar, the Moonshine Saloon, that left Adlai Xiong dead and two of his cousins wounded. True Thao, allegedly a member of a rival gang, went on trial for the shooting in Ramsey County District Court, and in April 2014 Thao was found guilty on multiple counts, including first-degree murder for the benefit of a gang. Judge Judith Tilsen sentenced him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.</p>
<p>In Minnesota, appeals of first-degree premeditated murder cases skip the Court of Appeals and go directly to the Supreme Court. As Cahill explained, the justices were focused on just four key questions in the appeal: Should the judge have allowed evidence of one of Thao’s prior crimes at trial? What about the expert testimony on gang activity? Did the judge err when she gave the jury their instructions? And was the sentence of life without parole also in error?</p>
<p>The students had been instructed to watch silently, and there was barely a whisper in the crowd as the justices peppered Jessness with questions. After half an hour, Assistant Ramsey County Attorney Pete Marker rose to make the state’s case, and when a school bell rang there was the muffled sound of students passing in the hallways outside.</p>
<p>Jessness wrapped up her final five-minute rebuttal quickly and asked the justices if they had any remaining questions. Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, seated in the center of her colleagues, glanced left, then right and responded: “It looks like we’re good.”</p>
<p>Then it was time for a costume change. The justices disappeared from the stage to slip out of their black judicial robes and then walked back on a few minutes later for a question-and-answer session with the students.</p>
<p>As is the court’s practice, Gildea directed the responses, passing the mic among her associate justices. Several times it landed in the oversized hands of Page, the NFL Hall of Famer who’s nearing the end of his improbable second career in law.</p>
<p>On his 70th birthday in August, Page will reach the age of mandatory retirement from the Supreme Court. He was first elected to the court in 1992 and has participated in every one of the court’s traveling oral arguments since the program launched with a trip to Rochester in 1995.</p>
<p>It was his turn to answer when one of the students asked who or what inspired the justices to enter the legal field and become a judge. For Page, that inspiration was “the notion of equal justice under the law,” he said, adding that he was 9 years old in 1954 when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the <em>Brown vs. Board of Education</em> decision that ended legal segregation in public schools.</p>
<p>“The power of that decision has inspired me throughout my life,” Page said.</p>
<p>When he later accepted a plaque commemorating his years on the court from Michael Walker, director of the district’s Office of Black Male Student Achievement, Page said as long as students remained involved in their communities, they, too, would have a chance to “change the future.”</p>
<p>“You all have the potential to do great things,” Page said, “and I hope that you take advantage of those opportunities that will put you in position to do those things.”</p>
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<p><em>Photo by Dylan Thomas</em></p>
<p><em>Office for Black Male Student Achievement Director Michael Walker presents a plaque to retiring Associate Justice Alan Page.</em></p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 11 May 2015 21:48:08 +0000Dylan Thomas24824 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/the-minnesota-supreme-court-heads-back-to-school#commentsMill City High School hosts information eventhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news-feed/mill-city-high-school-hosts-information-event
<div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New charter is enrolling students for fall</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>ELLIOT PARK — Mill City High School, a new downtown charter school opening for the 2015–2016 school year, is hosting an information event for potential students and their families Saturday.</p>
<p>The location of the school at 810 S. 7th St. is inside the education wing of the First Covenant Church complex near the new Vikings football stadium and across the street from the Hennepin County Medical Center campus. The information event will be a chance for prospective families to learn more about the high school’s global classical studies curriculum and “mastery learning” approach to education from John Miller, the school’s start-up director.</p>
<p>The information event starts at 10 a.m. and attendees can park for free in the First Covenant lot. For more information, go to <a href="millcityhigh.org">millcityhigh.org</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.journalmpls.com/news-feed/charter-high-school-may-open-downtown" target="_self">Mill City High School</a>'s charter authorizer is the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers.</p>
</div></div></div>Mon, 23 Mar 2015 15:27:48 +0000Dylan Thomas24559 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news-feed/mill-city-high-school-hosts-information-event#commentsFormer School Board members give exit interview http://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/former-school-board-members-give-exit-interview
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<span class="field-slideshow-caption-text">From left: former School Board members Richard Mammen, Alberto Monserrate and Mohamud Noor. (Photo by David Weingartner)</span>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Mammen, Monserrate and Noor reflect on their terms and predict what lies ahead for Minneapolis Public Schools</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>It was like a School Board candidate forum, but in reverse.</p>
<p>Instead of election-season campaign pledges, the roughly 50 people who turned up Thursday evening at Pepito’s Parkway Theater came to hear reflections on terms past from three former School Board members: Alberto Monserrate, Richard Mammen and Mohamud Noor. Monserrate and Mammen won seats in 2010 and Noor was appointed to fill a vacancy in 2013, but all three declined to run for re-election and left the board in January.</p>
<p>Moderators Arthur Himmelman and former Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton led what was the first discussion in the Conversations at the Crossroads series sponsored by non-profit community organization Change Inc. (co-founded by Mammen) and public relations firm NewPublica (where Monserrate is CEO). Sayles Belton opened with what she jokingly referred to as the “easiest question” of the night, asking all three former board members to imagine what the future holds in store for the district.</p>
<p>Mammen said the district had a “strong” and “school-centric” strategy outlined in its Acceleration 2020 plan, which was approved by the School Board in September when he was chair. It should shift more decision-making authority and resources to schools from the central office and improve community engagement, he continued, but then added caveat: “That’s a very optimistic view of the future, because it’s conditional on if the district follows the plan.”</p>
<p>Monserrate said his hope for the district was “a future in which the individual needs of Minneapolis kids are addressed” and key decisions are made at the school level. But Monserrate also gave the district only 50-50 odds of actually achieving that goal, noting that while district schools meet the needs of some students very well, that’s not the experience for the majority.</p>
<p>Noor said he was reminded of a scene from the 2004 movie “Hotel Rwanda,” when the hero, Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle), a hotel manager caught in the midst of an ethnic violence and seeing no hope of rescue, decides: “We can only save ourselves.”</p>
<p>“My friends, the district is struggling, and I’m not going to lie to you,” Noor said.</p>
<p>He, too, expressed support for Acceleration 2020, but Noor also called on community members to get involved and help “change the culture” of the district.</p>
<p>“You laid the gauntlet down,” Sayles-Belton responded. “Love it.”</p>
<p>But Noor wasn’t done. He said the “elephant in the room” was the district’s culture of white privilege, one that perpetuates institutional racism. He noted the particularly poor results for English language learner (ELL) students at Wellstone International High School, where less than 18 percent of students graduated in four years as of 2013–2014, according to the Minnesota Department of Education.</p>
<p>Noor said immigrants and students of color are sometimes “discouraged” by the system, and teachers don’t always feel free to speak out. Monserrate would later add that ELL teachers are sometimes “bullied” by other staff.</p>
<p>Throughout the evening, both Noor, who was born in Somalia, and Monserrate, who grew up in Puerto Rico, returned to the issues facing ELL students. Monserrate said a second language gives them a “natural advantage” in the labor market, but added the district often treats both their families and teachers poorly.</p>
<p>“We still make families feel incredibly uncomfortable,” Monserrate said. “We still make a lot of plans that never get implemented.”</p>
<p>Noor said the district must be more flexible to help immigrants succeed, testing year-round school models that focus on language acquisition. He said Somali families are leaving for charter schools that take a more personal, hands-on approach, including door-to-door recruitment drives.</p>
<p>“Almost 40 percent of (the city’s) Somali students don’t go to Minneapolis Public Schools,” he said.</p>
<p>Asked about the major challenges facing the district, all three agreed that the task for Interim Superintendent Michael Goar and the current School Board is living up to the high expectations set by the strategic plan.</p>
<p>But Sayles Belton challenged them: If there’s work left to do, then why did you leave? Both Mammen and Monserrate said they never planed to serve more than one term, and Noor left for an unsuccessful attempt to wrest the House District 60B seat from Rep. Phyllis Kahn, a fellow DFLer.</p>
<p>Turning to Mammen, Sayles Belton reminded him he once pledged at a School Board meeting to “race anyone in the room to the end of the achievement gap.”</p>
<p>“The reality is, we’ve made some progress but far too little,” Mammen responded. “… We haven’t done as much as a city to improve life for our kids.”</p>
<p>Mammen had earlier predicted the shift to a new school funding scheme known as student-based allocations would be controversial, especially in Southwest Minneapolis, where relatively low rates of poverty and student mobility means schools will draw fewer financial resources compared to those with greater needs. But he said ultimately it should help to decrease disparities across the district.</p>
<p>“Let (the funding) follow the students, and that will create equity,” he said.</p>
</div></div></div>Fri, 20 Mar 2015 19:40:21 +0000Dylan Thomas24557 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/former-school-board-members-give-exit-interview#commentsSchools Notebook: Board welcomes student representativehttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-board-welcomes-student-representative
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<span class="field-slideshow-caption-text">Noah Branch leaned into the mic at his first School Board meeting Feb. 10.</span>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Also: A consultant is hired for superintendent search and Viva City returns</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>A Patrick Henry High School sophomore is the first-ever student representative to the Minneapolis School Board.</p>
<p>Noah Branch won’t have a vote on the board, but he will sit alongside elected School Board members at meetings and is expected to provide a student’s perspective on district policy issues. The 16-year-old will receive a $5,000 scholarship when he completes his term Dec. 31.</p>
<p>Branch’s peers serving in Citywide Student Government recommended him for the position. Late last year, the School Board approved a policy change allowing them to appoint a junior or sophomore in student government to the board.</p>
<p>Branch joined the board Feb. 10 after a vote to approve his appointment.</p>
<p>As she welcomed him, Board Member Tracine Asberry urged Branch to “make sure you always have the student voice.”</p>
<p>“Being in this type of environment can make you think outside of the student perspective, and I think you need to challenge us,” Asberry said.</p>
<p>Branch thanked the other members of the Patrick Henry student council and his family, who watched his first meeting from seats in the audience.</p>
<p>“I really look forward to this next year and being the connection between students and the district,” Branch said. “It’s really exciting to me.”</p>
<p>His first meeting was a long one, running nearly three hours before Board Chair Jenny Arneson entertained a motion to adjourn. Unlike his fellow board members, Branch is subject to the Minneapolis curfew ordinance, which means he can’t be out alone past 11 p.m. on a school night.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong>Consultant to lead superintendent search</strong></p>
<p>The School Board plans to hire a consultant to conduct the district’s search for a new permanent superintendent.</p>
<p>Earlier this year, a board subcommittee explored the possibility of conducting the search internally using the district’s human resources staff, but it ultimately recommended having an outside group run the process. The full board approved the plan Feb. 10, but had not at that time selected a search firm to work with.</p>
<p>“We discussed that we are lacking some internal capacity in which to do that (search),” Board Chair Jenny Arneson said. “In fact, it might involve hiring another person if we needed to do that, so actually this might be the cheaper option and much more comprehensive. … It helps us get started right away and helps us to the community engagement that we all want to see.”</p>
<p>The School Board recently appointed district CEO Michael Goar to serve as interim superintendent following the resignation in December of former Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson. Johnson’s last day was Jan. 31, but she’ll consult with Goar through the end of the school year.</p>
<p>Goar, a Washburn High School graduate who worked as a school district administrator here, in Boston and in Memphis, has expressed interest in taking over the superintendent role permanently.</p>
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<p><strong>Viva City returns for 21st year</strong></p>
<p>Minneapolis Public Schools’ annual student art extravaganza turns 21 this year.</p>
<p>The Viva City Fine Arts Festival kicked-off in December with an exhibition of visual art by Minneapolis elementary students at the John B. Davis Gallery inside district headquarters. That show ended in January, but another exhibition featuring work by middle school students is on display in the gallery — located just outside the assembly room where the School Board meets — through March 23.</p>
<p>Visual art by district high school students is showing now through March 23 in the Cargill Gallery at Hennepin County Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall. Student dancers and actors take part in a performing arts showcase 7 p.m.–9 p.m. March 4 at Folwell Middle School, 3611 20th Ave. S.</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 25 Feb 2015 20:12:33 +0000Dylan Thomas24447 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/schools-notebook-board-welcomes-student-representative#commentsQuestions for interim Superintendent Michael Goarhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/questions-for-interim-superintendent-michael-goar
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<span class="field-slideshow-caption-text">The district's new interim superintendent, Michael Goar, is a Washburn High School graduate.</span>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">The former district CEO discusses his plans for the district</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Interim Superintendent Michael Goar takes over at Minneapolis Public Schools in a time of significant change.</p>
<p>Following a path set by former Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson’s SHIFT initiative and Acceleration 2020, the five-year strategic plan adopted in September by the School Board, Goar is guiding a transformation in the relationship between the district’s central office and its schools. Headquarters will shrink so that more resources can flow directly to schools — schools that are promised greater autonomy in exchange for academic results.</p>
<p>Goar is an experienced education executive, having worked for two Superintendent Johnsons: Bernadeia, here in Minneapolis, and Carol, in Memphis and Boston. During his first week on the job, he spoke about his new role and his plans for the final four months of the school year.</p>
<p>(An abbreviated version of this Q-and-A appears in the print edition of the Feb. 12–25 Southwest Journal.)</p>
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<p><strong>Southwest Journal: Talk about how you approach the role of interim superintendent. Do you view yourself as a caretaker for the district, or is this a chance to enact your own vision for the district?</strong></p>
<p>Goar: I don’t see myself as a caretaker, meaning maintaining, treading water, if that’s how we want to define it.</p>
<p>I rather see myself as a superintendent with a clear vision and goals and objectives that we need to achieve. And I think that the best way for me to honor the work of Bernadeia Johnson, and my mentor and friend as well, is to make sure that her vision, which is the strategic plan we have enacted and the board approved in terms of the next five years, we have to make sure that work is progressing, going forward. …</p>
<p>We have four more months of school that we have to finish really strong if we really want to see strong academic gains for the upcoming year. I’m very focused on doing that, focused on ensuring whatever we’re working on is not add-on or different than our plan that the board has approved. Rather, it is about being much more narrow and deep and creating an opportunity for a nimble and innovative organization.</p>
<p>I want to push our organization to a greater level of a sense of urgency. I know superintendent Johnson had a level of urgency, but I want to push it even further to really accelerate our teaching and learning that is happening in Minneapolis Public Schools.</p>
<p><strong>You’re talking about a greater sense of urgency and a need over the rest of the course of the school year to see some strong academic growth. Do you have some specific strategies?</strong></p>
<p>SHIFT is all about kind of reframing the work of the (district headquarters at) Davis Center, and I think that one of the things we have noticed is Davis Center should exist to serve the schools. It is a service aspect of what we’re doing, not compliance, and we sometimes forget roles and responsibilities. …</p>
<p>How do we begin, then, to right-size Davis Center, identify significant resources and then make those resources available for schools? …</p>
<p>Three specific areas that we are really focusing on in terms of getting resources and ensuring schools have adequate resources:</p>
<p>One is we want to make sure schools have additional time, especially high schools and middle schools. Schools, then, will have the opportunity to use the time as they see fit.</p>
<p>Some schools are very interested in adding a seventh period because they are in the process of obtaining IB or they are an IB school and they need to have a seven-period day. Other schools may use those additional resources … for remedial intervention or they might create some other program for credit recovery or some other aspect of their mission or what students need. …</p>
<p>The second is lowering class size. As you know, we spent quite a bit of money last year, or this year, lowering class size for high-priority schools, but there are non-high-priority schools that are suffering from, I think, the large class size that we need to address. That also gets to the working conditions for our teachers but, more fundamentally, for our students. …</p>
<p>The third part of it is really focusing on professional development for our teachers, giving schools time and money to really look at: What are the things we can do to improve instruction? …</p>
<p>Along with that, there are a few things I think we really need to do a better job.</p>
<p>I’m a strong advocate for re-engaging our parents and our community. I think that sometimes as a district that has been a significant challenge for us. I think we need to do a better job to build trust, that parents feel like they have an opportunity to connect with the district in a meaningful way.</p>
<p>So, we need to do a different way of engaging with our parents. That work is going to be launched through the work of our Community Engagement Office. I’m really focused on that, in terms of how we’re going to do that.</p>
<p>Along with that, in terms of key priorities, are community partnership schools. Right now we have four community partnership schools, as you know. The board is receiving a recommendation, hopefully in March, giving us authorization to launch our community partnership schools.</p>
<p>I feel really strongly it’s a unique opportunity for us to be very creative, cutting-edge, an opportunity for us to grant these four schools autonomy in large areas that will enable them to improve academic performance. We want to make sure these four community partnership schools are nurtured, as well as providing them with support.</p>
<p>Our hope is that we will add more, and as the board approves these four schools, on the heel of that, right away, we’re already planning for expansion of community partnership schools and sending out additional information to our schools for participation in our community partnership schools.</p>
<p>Then, the last but not the least is really having a clear pathway for having what I call a recovery plan for our most vulnerable schools in our school system, being very clear as a system: How are we going to support them? What are some very specific recovery plans we have in place ensuring our schools move the academic needle?</p>
<p><strong>Can you speak at all about the magnitude of what the change is going to be (at central office)? I’ve heard (district CFO) Robert Doty say a cut of maybe 40 percent of the staff here. Is that roughly accurate? What are you looking at?</strong></p>
<p>I think what we’re looking at is having significant resources that will enable us to do those three big things that I talked about. And I’m not going to say this is 40 percent or 50 percent or a percentage of dollars, or whatever the case may be.</p>
<p>The chiefs that are working with me have already been given a specific target based on a preliminary assessment we are seeing in terms of redesign work of the Davis Service Center. It is critical that I give them an opportunity to work on that.</p>
<p>What I can say is this: There are folks who are working in this building who will next year either work at the school level providing school-level responsibilities, or there are people who are currently working in this building who will not be working in Minneapolis Public Schools. And we will help them land within our opportunity for other employment in Minneapolis Public Schools.</p>
<p>The reality is what we have as an enterprise as we move forward this model that we have is no longer sustainable in the long term financially or academically or a variety of other indicators that we are measuring the work of the Davis Service Center. …</p>
<p>Those are resource-driven decision-making processes, and I think we’re going to get there in the next few weeks. …</p>
<p><strong>I wanted to get to contract negotiations, which are coming up also this spring and summer. More time: Is that going to have to be part of your discussion with the union?</strong></p>
<p>I think we already had some discussion with (Minneapolis Federation of Teachers) about more time, and obviously if there are things we have to negotiate with MFT we’re willing to do that. But the reality is that if there’s a provision that we have to talk to them about we will do that.</p>
<p>We will work very collaboratively with MFT, and we’ll work with our principals and Principals’ Forum, but I probably have to get additional advice from our labor relations division what manner of time that we have to negotiate with MFT. If there are items we have to negotiate we will do that. If there are things we don’t have to negotiate, we will not negotiate. We’ll talk to them about this and tell them what we’re looking for.</p>
<p><strong>What are your other priorities for the next round of talks with the union? What are the areas you’re focusing on?</strong></p>
<p>I think we’ll have to have a discussion with our board. As you know, we have new board members on board.</p>
<p><strong>Are there key lessons you take from Carol Johnson or Bernadeia Johnson that shape how you’re going to lead the district?</strong></p>
<p>Carol had three words that she taught me: relationship, relationship, relationship. …</p>
<p>Somewhere along the way we lost our way in Minneapolis, where it always has been we had a strong relationship with our community and central office folks had a strong relationship with our school leaders and school leaders had a strong relationship with our teachers. We need to reignite that.</p>
<p>Also, Bernadeia Johnson, her passion for all kids, regardless of who you are, and her vision for equity, her zeal for making sure the kids had voices — and also having a strong moral compass as we move (forward) — that guides our work.</p>
</div></div></div>Wed, 11 Feb 2015 17:41:33 +0000Dylan Thomas24385 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/questions-for-interim-superintendent-michael-goar#commentsWeighty decisions on School Board’s agendahttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/weighty-decisions-on-school-boards-agenda
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<span class="field-slideshow-caption-text">Several key policy decisions are on the School Board agenda in 2015.</span>
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</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Dylan Thomas</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-teaser field-type-text-long field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Votes in coming months will plot a course for the district </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>Major decisions on the direction of Minneapolis Public Schools lie ahead for a School Board that welcomed three new members and an interim district superintendent in the first month after students returned from winter break.</p>
<p>Those decisions include setting a process and timeline for selecting a new, permanent superintendent to succeed Bernadeia Johnson, who officially stepped down Jan. 31. At the same time, the board is grappling with several key policy questions that extend directly from Johnson’s vision for a district where schools drive change and improvement.</p>
<p>It’s “absolutely a big year,” said Jenny Arneson, who represents Northeast’s District 1 and was elected School Board chair by her colleagues in January.</p>
<p>Five of nine current board members voted in September to adopt Acceleration 2020, a five-year strategic plan for the district. (A sixth, Tracine Asberry, abstained from the vote.) That plan embraced the main theme of Johnson’s legacy-defining SHIFT Initiative: migrating financial resources and decision-making power to schools from the district’s central office and, in exchange, expecting principals to produce results.</p>
<p>“Certainly now we push ahead with our strategic plan,” Arneson said, adding that board members “feel comfortable” with the direction of the district.</p>
<p>Pushing ahead means hammering out the potentially controversial details of the school autonomy-for-accountability shift, like the district’s move to student-based allocations for fall 2016. Under that system, school budgets will be more closely tied to the needs of the students they serve, and schools where students face greater challenges are likely to get more funding.</p>
<p>Carla Bates, the School Board’s veteran member, said student-based allocation “puts the power in SHIFT.”</p>
<p>This spring, the board is also expected to vote on approving the first group of Community Partnership Schools, which will operate with the highest level of autonomy from district headquarters while testing innovative approaches to boosting student achievement. It’s another key piece of Johnson’s SHIFT Initiative coming to fruition.</p>
<p>“I definitely support moving that continued direction,” Bates said.</p>
<p><strong>Continuing the SHIFT</strong></p>
<p>For School Board Member Nelson Inz, though, the path ahead is not so clear. Inz, one of three new members who joined the board months after the vote on Acceleration 2020, has raised questions about the autonomy-for-accountability bargain.</p>
<p>“What happens if we give autonomy to a school and three years later, four years later, the school is in really bad shape? That’s not a good thing,” he said.</p>
<p>A social studies teacher at a Montessori charter school in St. Paul, Inz said he’d worked for principals that would thrive in that environment and others who would probably struggle. While he said he supports “taking some risks and looking to do some innovations,” Inz also is looking for clear evidence that increasing school autonomy will decrease the district’s achievement gap.</p>
<p>“That’s the million-dollar question for that policy,” he said. “If it isn’t going to improve equity, then what’s the point?”</p>
<p>While she supports SHIFT in general, Asberry said she abstained from the vote on Acceleration 2020 because the district hadn’t clearly shown how components of the strategic plan — including student-based allocation — would lead to better outcomes for students.</p>
<p>“That’s something I’ve really been asking for from the district, is show that alignment,” Asberry said.</p>
<p>Principals at 10 district schools are beta-testing the student-based allocation model this year, but the School Board still has to wrestle with several key questions, including: Which student needs will be weighted the most in the funding formula? What is the minimum funding amount for schools? Exactly how much freedom will principals have to set their budgets?</p>
<p>The School Board also plans to tackle a related policy issue this spring: school site councils.</p>
<p>The councils generally consist of a school principal and small group of parents and teachers. Arneson described them as “the primary place for the school community to really come together” and form a consensus around a school’s budget and culture, but she acknowledged the capability of the councils varies widely from school to school.</p>
<p>A revised site council policy could spell out what those bodies must look like, who serves on them and “the checks and balances” of power within the school, she said.</p>
<p><strong>Selecting a superintendent</strong></p>
<p>Asked about the superintendent search, Arneson described conflicting impulses: to not leave the district “in limbo” with an interim superintendent for too long but also to conduct a thorough search with a significant role for community members.</p>
<p>“I’m interested in moving along faster (rather) than slower,” she said, but added that she’ll remain flexible on the timeline. District staff members have said the pool of potential candidates is at its largest now and will shrink through the spring and summer.</p>
<p>At least one person has already announced his intention to apply for the job: current interim Superintendent Michael Goar.</p>
<p>Board Member Josh Reimnitz said, with Goar in charge, he felt “comfortable” taking the time to engage the community and find a top-level candidate.</p>
<p>“There’s going to be another prime hiring period a year from now,” Reimnitz noted.</p>
<p>While Goar is an experienced school district manager and executive, some have questioned his lack of experience in the classroom. Goar does not come from a teaching background — unlike Johnson, who was a teacher and principal before joining district administration.</p>
<p>Bates called Goar “a strong candidate,” but said she needs “to hear him articulate his academic vision.” Inz said he wouldn’t make teaching experience a “litmus test,” but added: “As a teacher myself, I certainly value teachers.”</p>
<p>Inz is just one of four current or former teachers on this School Board, and they have varying points of view on how important that experience is to the future superintendent.</p>
<p>“For me, we’ve had the experience where we’ve had people out of the classroom or deeply embedded education people as superintendent with varied results,” School Board Vice Chair Kim Ellison, a former alternative school teacher, said. “I think that (Goar) could be effective with the right team around him. He’s a listener. He’s a doer.”</p>
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</div></div></div>Tue, 10 Feb 2015 22:55:03 +0000Dylan Thomas24380 at http://www.journalmpls.comhttp://www.journalmpls.com/news/schools/weighty-decisions-on-school-boards-agenda#comments